


Jackson

by terrifier



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), Dark Thirteenth Doctor, Gen, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25205956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrifier/pseuds/terrifier
Summary: “Your reign of terror will end with the sight of the first crying child and you know it.” Clara Oswald had once said and, well, she was right.
Kudos: 38





	Jackson

The Doctor was pretty sure the ends of her hair were singed the flames climbing the walls, but she couldn’t care less. It always got in the way anyway.

As her foot came down on some creaky metal, she almost slipped but she managed to maintain her balance by grabbing hold of the damaged wall beside her. The wall was hot, burning from the flames dancing just below where her hand had taken hold of, but she couldn’t feel the pain so she let go and continued her journey.

There was someone she needed to see. Someone she had to deal with.

Her jaw clenched tightly with anger, she could feel her teeth grinding against each other. She had never felt more like a storm than now.

She could see now why her enemies called her the Oncoming Storm. Why they ran when she got angry. No one was safe when she got angry. Not even herself.

”Doctor! Stop this! Please!”

Her feet hesitated, hovering over the ground at the cries before she blocked them out and kept moving, letting her foot touch the ground again.

”Doc, this is madness. This ain’t you!”

That was distinctly Graham speaking. He was the only one who called her Doc, the only one she let call her that.

She almost stopped to turn around and tell him that he didn’t know her so how could he say what was and wasn’t her, but she knew if she replied then she would be distracted from her task at hand.

”Oi, listen to us!”

There was a hand on her arm, preventing her from moving and she whirled around immediately.

”Don’t...” she came face to face with Ryan, “touch me.”

Her hearts leapt in her chest as she breathed deeply, attempting to calm herself down at her friends’ surprised faces.

”Sorry,” Ryan apologised, “but listen, like Gramps said, this ain’t you.”

”Yeah, you don’t have to do this,” Yaz added.

”Do you have any idea what these people have done?” The Doctor grit out between clenched teeth.

”Of course we do!” Yaz blurted. “We’re not as stupid as you think we are, you know.”

”I don’t th-“

”No, it’s your turn to listen to us, now,” Yaz interrupted the Doctor.

Feeling chastised, the Doctor shut her mouth and forced herself to listen.

”Of course we know what they’ve done, Doctor,” Yaz sighed, “but this isn’t the way to deal with it. You can’t just kill every bad guy you come across.”

”I can do what I like,” the Doctor retorted under her breath.

”Yes, they might deserve it. Hell, I think they do too, but this isn’t how we do things. We make things better than when we found them, we don’t cause a blood bath. That isn’t going to solve anything,” Yaz tried to take the Doctor's hands, but the latter was quick to move them out of reach. “Please, stop this. Call those space rhinos or something.”

”Judoom,” Graham helpfully pointed out.

”Judoon,” the Doctor corrected.

”Whatever. Just don’t kill anyone,” Yaz pleaded. “You’re such a good person, Doctor. I don’t think you really want to do this. I don’t think your conscience would be able to handle it.”

The Doctor scoffed, amused.

”You really don’t know me,” she said, “any of you. I’ve got more blood on my hands than either of you could comprehend. I’ve killed more people than you could understand. I’ve wiped out entire species. I wiped out my _own_ species the first time, before the Master did it all over again after I’d saved them just to laugh in my face! If I want to kill the bad guy, Yaz, then there is nothing you can do to stop me!”

By the end of her rant, the Doctor was breathing heavily through her mouth, faced with her friends staring at her with horror. She slowly closed her mouth and attempted to calm her racing hearts.

”Like I said,” she muttered, loud enough for them to hear her over whining metal and roaring flames, “you can’t stop me.”

She turned on her heel then and began to make her way carefully through the wreckage, intent on finally reaching the ones she was after, when, out of the blue, a voice caught her ears.

”Mommy!”

She span around, trying to locate the source of the cry.

”I thought you evacuated everybody?” She addressed her friends.

”We did,” Ryan said, defensive. He was clearly angry with her after her outburst a moment ago. 

”The why can I hear a child?” She retorted, just as angry.

”I dunno.”

”It’s coming from that way,” Yaz interrupted while pointing behind herself.

True to her word, the voice was coming from behind the fam and it was slowly getting louder.

”Mommy, where are you? I can’t breathe!” The child cried. “Mommy! Daddy! Please!”

The Doctor rushed passed the fam, a new mission in mind. She had to save that child and get them out of there.

She rounded the corner at the end of the corridor faster than was probably safe in such a hazardous environment, but she didn’t care when she came face to face with the soot stained face of a little boy

His hair was stuck to his face with sweat from the heat and the cuffs of his trousers were singed. Upon closer inspection, the Doctor noticed that the tips of his fingers were burned and bloody.

”Hey,” the Doctor addressed him carefully. He looked up at her, fear obvious in his teary eyes. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll help you find your parents.”

”Who are you?” The boy asked warily. 

“My name is the Doctor. What’s yours?”  
  


“Jackson,” the boy said.

”Nice to meet you, Jackson, though I wish it was under better circumstances, eh?” The Doctor smiled gently, and much to her relief Jackson returned it.

The Doctor held out her hand in invitation. She held it out for a few seconds before the boy actually took it.

”Come on, let’s go find your parents,” she said.

Jackson tightened his hold on her hand and they walked carefully through the corridor, intent on finding his parents.


End file.
